NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The IRS identified roughly two million tax returns that were potentially fraudulent last year, a sharp increase that has the agency struggling to keep up.

The agency's fraud detection system identified more than one million returns as being potentially fraudulent -- up 72% from the previous year -- according to a mid-year report to Congress from the Taxpayer Advocate Service, the taxpayer watchdog arm of the IRS. (more . . . )http://money.cnn.com//2012/06/28/pf/taxes/irs-tax-fraud/index.htm?section=money_mostpopular

Don't worry, obamacare (*) is going to add 16,000 new IRS agents. I'm sure they'll get right on that, day 1 on the job.

(*) No, there's no provision in obamacare to add healthcare providers (in fact a startlingly high percentage are considering a career change as a result of obamacare). But I'm sure that layering big-government inefficiencies, thousands of IRS workers, millions of additional patients, etc. on top of our healthcare system, between you and your Doctor... That can all be magically done with no impact to you and yours! Your quality of care, availability of care, costs, all magically will move in the right directions, trust us! :-/

My boss said that someone filed a fradulent return under his name before he had a chance to file his own return. It has taken months to straighten it out. I don’t even want to know the fraud associated with this and bogus disability claims, etc.

I’ve been audited five times in three years, and I just received notice that I that I am now being audited a SIXTH time. The only thing was any importance found in any of the first five audits was a bookkeeping mistake that I pointed out to the auditor. I paid, + interest + penalty. Everything else was in order.

My lawyer suggested that I keep a lower political profile, i.e. stop contributing to conservative candidates. I declined that suggestion, and now I am preparing for the sixth audit.

We are up against a powerful, corrupt, and shameless government with unlimited time, money, and resources.

More tax fraud. Is this a surprise to anyone? The Tax Code is gotten so complex, so bloated, so full of holes and exceptions that no single person can understand it all. Not only does this represent a huge universe of opportunities for error, it also exposes broad opportunities for exploitation and abuse.

"Never attribute to malice what is adequately explained by stupidity." Or ignorance. Or misunderstanding. How much of that "fraud" are people who, with the best of intentions, filled out their tax forms wrong? Took deductions that they weren't entitled to because the instructions from the IRS are vague or incomplete?

Title 26 of the United States Code is just too damn large. It's time Congress be required to hold to a word count, just like a novelist has to keep his book within a certain size, or a magazine/newspaper article write to the "news hole".

And reduce the exceptions and loopholes. If the tax is good enough for Joe Six-Pack to pay, it's good enough for Congressman Handout to pay as well. That includes FICA. That includes health insurance withholding.

8
posted on 07/05/2012 6:55:11 AM PDT
by asinclair
(Quality Assurance is the process of making sure mistakes never happens.)

Every year, like clockwork, I order a statement of my social security wages. One, I want to make sure that my earnings are being recorded correctly, and two, and more importantly, I want to make sure that my SSN is not being used by an illegal alien to report wages.

This year, I went onto the SSA website to order my annual statement and received a message stating that due to budget cuts, American workers are no longer going to receive copies of their social security earnings statements. That set me off big time.

There are some intelligent, decent, hardworking IRS agents, but not many. The IRS culture is lazy, arrogant, and insanely politically correct.

We are dealing with agents that cannot understand fractions and have such limited vocabularies that they do not realize that the word “attorney” is related to the expense category “legal.”

One agent we encountered had a computer that routinely spit out erroneous tabulations. Accidentally or on purpose, that machine’s answers are stacked against the taxpayer. The agent is still going on her merry way overcharging the victims she audits. Wonder who gets the difference in what taxpayers REALLY owe and what she collects?

They may happily report some general numbers and statistics of tax fraud, but who would dare to report or prosecute ye olde “slave reparations” claims that have no doubt dramatically increased since Hussein’s coronation?

14
posted on 07/05/2012 7:13:34 AM PDT
by treetopsandroofs
(Had FDR been GOP, there would have been no World Wars, just "The Great War" and "Roosevelt's Wars".)

Don't know the exact quote, but in “Atlas Shrugged” there is a discussion about making so many laws that almost nobody can escape being a law breaker. And that is how the government will control the populace.

I guess this reply is going to put me in Homeland Security's cross-hairs, but I'm ready to vote for leaders who will collect just enough money for national defense, a few paid officials, and a handful of public buildings. States can handle everything else.

Austin IRS hit with audit for mismanagement and fraud, Illegals get large tax refund checksThe IRS is now the focus of a year-long audit, thanks to federal employees who are blowing the whistle. Howard Antelis is a tax examiner at the IRS’s ITIN processing center in Austin, Texas. The large, unmarked building in south Austin is where the IRS decides whether to issue an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number to the millions of illegal immigrants who apply for them. An ITIN allows undocumented workers to file tax returns and pay taxes, a legal requirement for those who earn income in the United States even those who come to the country illegally.

But 13 Investigates discovered the ITIN system is plagued by abuse and fraud. A four-month Eyewitness News investigation documented how many illegal immigrants use ITINs to get tax credits and refunds they’re not entitled to. WTHR also exposed how millions of undocumented workers get their ITIN applications approved using phony documents.

The problems identified by 13 Investigates cost American taxpayers billions of dollars every year, according to a 2011 report from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Inspector General for Tax Administration. After seeing WTHR’s investigations, Howard contacted 13 Investigates to say the problems inside the ITIN processing center are more serious and systemic than originally reported.

18
posted on 07/05/2012 7:29:50 AM PDT
by Arrowhead1952
(It's time to take out the trash in DC.)

Ever spend any time around an IRS office? It is not something most sane people would do, I admit. However, we have a client that offices in the same building as an IRS regional office. To be there at almost any time is disturbing but to be there at morning, noon or evening would put a taxpaying citizen in orbit.

First, it is the poster child for EEO. I didn’t know human beings came in so many colors, shapes and sizes. Second, it takes a long time to get to work in the morning. They trickle in for a looong time. Third, lunch is an event not to be missed. It starts early and ends late. Then there is the mandated, er encouraged, exercise period where a few turns around the parking garage are made, very few, and a lot of talking takes place. Now, the clock has a very long 16:30 that seems to start about 15:00 but it does not go beyond 16:30. Do not be anywhere near the doors in this period if you value your safety. Finally, there is the smoke break that seems to last all day for some.

The very scary thing is that these people all have access to your SSN, your bank accounts and know exactly how much you make.

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